"I don't want to live in a world like that," he had said - and then he didn't.
He didn't expect the end to come like this.
Choking on his own blood and mangled guts spilling from his torn-open torso, he realised that he didn't want to die. Not like this, not like this for them.
With all his nerves screaming in agony, he barely had the clarity to think. But through his blurring vision, he can just about make out his friend's horror-stricken faces. Glenn's streaked with tears, Andrea's mouth gaping as she begs him to hold on, Rick's shaking with the force of his denial, Shane's turned away and unable to look on any more. Daryl's frozen with a forced calm as he stared him straight in the eye and aimed his crossbow at his head.
More than friends, they were his family now. And he didn't want to leave them behind, knowing his death would leave them more broken than they already are.
But he just wanted the pain to stop.
He didn't want to have to let them go.
But in the end, he didn't have the choice.
Notes: Inspired by a youtube comment that said something about how Dale was the moral centre of the group and when he died, it felt like they lost that last bit of pre-apocalypse civilization. I got really into TWD last year although it was stressful as heck to watch haha!